Jaakko Sävilammi develops OP Aina – conversational AI is creating a new kind of customer experience

OP Aina is OP Pohjola's digital assistant which helps customers in their everyday banking and insurance matters by means of conversation. Having been involved in the service's development from the very beginning, Conversational AI Lead Jaakko Sävilammi has helped build a new kind of service experience that brings together advisory services, banking services and practical tools.

OP Aina, which makes use of three AI models, not only answers questions but also guides customers to the next step and helps them complete tasks directly within the conversation. The goal is to make the service as seamless and as user-friendly as possible.

Developer of digital services and artificial intelligence

Sävilammi already became interested in information technology in his childhood. Over the years, the hobby turned into a profession, and in the early 2000s, he built up his experience in ICT sales, IT project management and digital business. 
Sävilammi's career at OP started in 2008 with the development of digital services, and his influence has been notable in op.fi and OP-mobile, for example. Intrigued by the possibilities of technology and science from an early age, Sävilammi has been working with AI solutions since 2017 – long before generative AI gained widespread public attention. His experience of digital services and AI is seamlessly brought together in the development of OP Aina.

OP Aina leans on extensive expertise

Sävilammi describes OP Aina as an interesting ecosystem consisting of various AI models and technologies. What is essential about the service is that customers' situations are increasingly better understood and that any solutions are tailored accordingly. Various AI models, real-time data flows and other technical solutions ranging from UIs to backend services are needed for providing the service. This also requires developers to have a broad range of skills. OP Aina is being developed by a large group of professionals from technical developers to data scientists and business specialists. The role has also evolved alongside advances in technology – AI is supporting the work at different stages of the service.

Artificial intelligence helps organisations understand customers better

According to Sävilammi, the AI evolution is particularly evident in OP Aina through the service's increasing ability to understand the customer during a conversation. Currently, the optimal solution is a hybrid solution in which the best aspects of various AI models are utilised.  
 
The emergence of generative AI has been a major step forward, allowing a more genuine, conversational user experience. One of the great benefits has been the ability to consider the entire conversation. This benefit has been utilised behind the scenes for some time already – in long conversations, OP Aina is capable of considering previous questions and interpreting customers' messages regardless of shortcomings or spelling mistakes in the messages. 
 
Sävilammi believes that the role of generative AI in customer experience will continue to increase – directly generated answers will be offered increasingly more often in the future. The development is conducted in a manner suitable for the financial sector, in a responsible, controlled way and in stages.

It is important for OP Pohjola to keep control of data and its life cycle – conversations are not stored in AI services, and the answers provided are reviewed. If a customer is given a directly generated answer, this will be mentioned separately.

A good AI solution is also carefully designed

In addition to technology, Sävilammi underlines the importance of conversational design. According to him, a good outcome is not only a result of the system's ability to generate text but also the service's ability to make it easy for customers to deal with their matters.

– At its best, a conversational user interface can reduce distractions, create a calmer user experience and help customers focus on what matters most. Therefore, it is not only important what the AI tool says, but also how the service works. 

At present, OP Aina helps customers with any matters related to cards, payments in exceptional situations and e-invoice orders, for example. In addition, OP Aina has been involved in the deployment of security limits for bank accounts.  

– The latest release is very practical for customers: they can now use OP Aina to deactivate a lost or stolen card via self-service without the need to separately call the Deactivation Service. 

Jaakko Sävilammi's work shows how AI development for customer service is ultimately about balancing between new technology, effective design and real customer needs. OP Aina is an example of what AI is capable of doing at its best: a responsibly implemented service in which technology meets good user experience.